Tag: Testing

  • Learning How to Lose

    My kid had to deal with her first big loss yesterday; she failed a test at school. Not only that, but it was a test that she thought she had aced, so it was a double shock.

    She didn’t take it well.

    No, she was pretty upset, and there were many factors as to why she was so mad. Embarrassment, feelings of inferiority, fear that she would fail her class, fear that she would fail the whole year, fear the would have to repeat the grade, and just a general disappointment in herself. All hard things for a kid to deal with, but they are things that a kid has to learn to deal with. My approach was to let her be upset and get all of that pent-up anger out of her system.

    My grandfather used to say that when you get mad, you should give yourself a day to wallow in it, but then you have to start making changes in the morning. It’s generally worked for me. Some losses are harder than others. Instead of a day, in some situations I needed days, weeks, even a month. Anger can tell you many things – and when I listen to why I’m angry, it tells me what changes I need to make.

    That might be too much for the kid to dwell on for right now.

    I thought it best to help her try to forgive herself, relax enough to get some sleep, and then discover that tomorrow did arrive in the morning, and it all wasn’t as bad as you thought it was. As long as you have a tomorrow, you always have a chance to make it better.

  • Coronavirus and Changing America

    Funny what the different a day can make.

    Yesterday, all was pretty normal in the City.

    Today, there is a decided change. I can see it with the people on the street. There are more masks out, and though this was always a town where people went out of their way not to come in contact with others, today everyone is moving as if there is a bubble around them.

    Trump’s address on tv last night didn’t help anything. Shutting down Europe access while leaving the UK alone doesn’t really help anyone. The problem is that the virus is here, and we need to start dealing with that. Testing, and limiting groups does make sense, but right now, I only see state and local governments doing that. The Trump administration isn’t really leading.

    I do think the NBA also made the right call, and other leagues should consider doing the same thing. These are mass gatherings, and it’s not that everyone who goes to these events will get infected, it’s that enough might take it home to parents and grandparents, who are the truly vulnerable here.

    I would hope, and this is hope not a fact, that 30 days of this, of people laying low, will slow the spread of coronavirus down, so it can become manageable. The only way for that to happen is to allow testing and gathering data. Let the doctors and scientists do their job, and that will take time.

    For the rest of us, let’s have level heads, and pitch in together. Should we help small business and workers; yes. What if there was a 30-day “Bill Holiday,” where no bills, rents, or payments are mandatorily collected? Everyone gets a break. This wouldn’t be a government hand out, but would be the people of this nation choosing to do this on their own. I have seen it happen in small towns that are hit by natural disasters. Why not everywhere else?